Fracking closer after release of Beetaloo report

Fracking in the NT may be one step closer after the territory government released a milestone report into the Beetaloo Basin.

The new report was commissioned in response to recommendations from the Pepper inquiry into the gas fracking industry, which said more data was needed before decisions could be made on natural gas extraction in the area. 

Research for the Strategic Regional Environmental and Baseline Assessment (SREBA) was conducted over three years at a cost of $15 million.

"The hydraulic fracturing inquiry laid out a recipe of all the information gaps that needed to be filled before decisions could be made about hydraulic fracturing in the territory," said Dr Alaric Fisher of the NT Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security.

"We've undertaken a systematic process to fill those gaps."

But environmental activists and local residents are worried the information will not be used in good faith by the NT government.

"Baseline scientific reports are only as good as the way they are used," Arid Lands Environment Centre spokeswoman Hannah Ekin said.

The report looked into key baseline data in the area surrounding the Beetaloo Basin across topics including water and biodiversity resources and local community concerns.

But a series of scandals plagued the report, after key tenders were awarded to interstate researchers instead of Charles Darwin University. 

In 2021, researchers from the university and CSIRO found the presence of a tiny, blind shrimp in the groundwater of the aquifer that stretches across the Beetaloo. 

They concluded the presence of this creature meant water systems through the aquifer were connected for at least 300km, meaning that any fracking in the area could have far-reaching implications for water contamination.

The team was not awarded a third contract to conduct research for the report, despite winning tenders for the first two. 

Local pastoralist Carina James said concerns about fracking affecting water quality were top of mind for her. 

"I've asked and nobody can give me 100 per cent assurance that there won't be changes to the water quality or quantity for my business and operations as a result of fracking," she said.

The report also found that communities, such as those in the town of Tennant Creek, had low confidence in the government to effectively regulate fracking. 

"They are cautious and very sceptical of receiving any economic or social benefits from an onshore gas industry being developed in the Beetaloo region, and more concerned about the environmental and cultural impacts it could have instead," the report said. 

Environment Minister Lauren Moss said she believed the report and any resulting regulatory reform would "withstand public scrutiny and the test of time".

The report addressed 35 of the Pepper inquiry's 135 recommendations, she told reporters on Tuesday. 

"In 2018, we made a decision as a government that ... if those 135 recommendations were implemented, we could move ahead as a territory with the onshore gas industry.

"That's where we're up to now," she said. 

"It's been a significant amount of work over many, many years to get to this point. And once that has been released, we will be able to move forward." 

Ms Moss said as the inquiry had intended, the report would play a critical role in avoiding and mitigating risks associated with onshore gas and development activity.